Weight loss surgery has always been considered a drastic option for weight loss — doctors nearly always recommend other weight loss strategies. Surgery is a last-ditch effort, when for medical reasons it is necessary to lose many extra pounds in a shortened period of time. But it is extremely effective, and some people who cannot lose weight in any other way find surgery to be a life-saver.

Now, a group of Swedish researchers say they have stumbled across evidence of positive changes in gene-expression among patients who underwent a gastric bypass surgery. In other words, weight loss surgery may change your genes for the better, enabling you to continue to maintain a healthy weight.

Researchers hope the results of their study will be helpful in producing weight loss medication that assimilates this alteration in gene expression.